I still want to say this, maybe more clearly - he said he started taking things too personally. that his players were trying to get big enough leads so he couldn't screw them up and he took it too personally.

I could see that in August.

I bet on some levels, this is his biggest middle finger ever, you know?

I still want to say this, maybe more clearly - he said he started taking things too personally. that his players were trying to get big enough leads so he couldn't screw them up and he took it too personally.

I could see that in August.

I bet on some levels, this is his biggest middle finger ever, you know?

I still want to say this, maybe more clearly - he said he started taking things too personally. that his players were trying to get big enough leads so he couldn't screw them up and he took it too personally.

I could see that in August.

I bet on some levels, this is his biggest middle finger ever, you know?

“Tony is one of the few people I know who would do something for a friend, even if it was bad for him personally. It’s a measure of the man that we fired him and remained friends. I knew Friday night was his last game, and I wanted to be there for it. Like a father who gets more enjoyment out of seeing his children succeed, I was as happy for him Friday night as I was when we won in 2005.

“Tony La Russa certainly left his mark on the game of baseball. His brilliance is his legacy. One of two managers to win a World Series in each league, six pennants, it says a lot about the man that he wasn’t just going to stick around to break records.

“Some managers are great at running a game. Some are great from the ninth inning until the first inning. Tony was rare. He truly was great at both. I don’t think anyone has won more often with teams expected to do far less.”

- Jerry Reinsdorf, Chicago White Sox chairman

Oh I don't know (middle finger thing) - I just think he was so constantly attacked by stupid sports radio announcer, callers, message boards etc for so many years...and then when he would hear his players joking about something that other years he would have laughed at - I guess I think he was just like [expletive] it.

Case in point. If you have access to the MLB video archives go to the game on Aug. 22, 2011 and watch the exchange between TLR and Carp when TLR comes to get him. This was the first of the games where the Cards were swept by the Dodgers. The low point of the season. Carp is winning 1-0 at this point. It really looks like Carp has had enough of TLR's BS and is telling him so. I wonder if this is what TLR is referring to as stuff he began to take personally.